Last year's "NBA Draft Combine" for NBA 2K10 - a paid downloadable mode that went out before the game's release - will be part of NBA 2K11's main game this year, according to a 2K Sports community manager.

Draft Combine allowed gamers to develop a prospect for NBA 2K10's "My Player" mode in a series of drills and scrimmages pre-release, so that he'd be ready for the league on day one. This year, it'll go out with the main game on day of release.

That said, contacted by Kotaku this afternoon, Singh also indicated 2K Sports still has plans for a free, pre-release download but didn't characterize it as DLC as most understand the term - being a game extension or add-on. Pressed for details, neither he nor 2K would confirm anything, but it seems to be a more robust demo than is typically released.